Have you got an HEIRLOOM engagement ring (or stone)? STORY!

I love that my ring is my late grandmother’s diamond, placed in a setting My Love picked out. He and I had talked about getting an Asha at first – because of the money and dodgy human rights considerations of diamonds – but when my grandmother passed away, my grandpa offered My Love her ring to give to me.

My grandma loved that ring. She loved this diamond and loved to show it off. They were married for 59 years and 10 months when she passed away. Her band was yellow gold and not especially to my taste, so My Love chose a new setting (all on his own, smart boy) and it’s so perfect: her diamond, my ring.

Grandma’s ring had some diamond sidestones, which we are using to make into some earrings as a surprise Matron of Honor gift for my little sister.

Lousy cell phone pic of Grandma Betty’s ring before:

Grandma’s diamond in my new setting (all artsy-fartsy because it’s for a blog header):

Do you have an engagement ring (or stone) that you inherited? What’s your story?

My inherited ring is FI’s great grandmother’s. It’s from the 1930s and was bought on the Atlantic City boardwalk for $100. It’s a platinum ring with a perfect diamond. His grandfather had it and offered it to him to use Thanksgiving 2010. FI accepted, but didn’t propose until Christmas Eve 2010. It’s beautiful and fits me perfectly. His entire family refers to me as an old soul. I really wish pictures did justice for this ring, but it simply doesn’t.

The diamond in my ring was my FI’s grandmother’s! It’s an OEC and was in a cocktail ring that had two diamonds side-by-side (both 1.68 ct, YOWZA), so FI’s mom offered one to him and one to his brother. His mom used the original setting and set two Peridots (her birthstone) and we picked out my setting. I’m so proud of my ring and love it so much!

My great grandmother passed away in 1997 at the age 94. She was married in 1928. Her ring was given to my grandmother (her daughter), who kept it in a jewelry box by her nightstand until she was diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumor last November. She told my mom she wanted to give it to me and the Mr., but didn’t want it to seem like a not-so-subtle hint that she wanted us to get married before she passed away. So my mom talked to me about it and I asked Mr. if he’d feel ok about getting the ring knowing it was NOT meant to be a “hint”. He said he would be thrilled with that – and that it would take the biggest stress of getting engaged off of his shoulders – knowing that I am opposed to new diamonds, and trying to pick out a ring (haha).

Unfortunately my grandmother’s brain tumor made her have moments of being a bit impulsive or inappropriate – so she ended up pulling the ring out during a family dinner the week before Christmas and giving it to Mr right in front of EVERYONE and saying something about wanting to see it again before she was dead. I felt absolutely terrible for the Mr., but he took it in stride and handled it like a champ. I reiterated on the drive home that she didn’t mean that.

We had originally been told my grandmother had a year to live, but she went downhill really fast. The Mr. kept waiting, because everytime there was a crisis, we were told things could get better (of course, I didn’t know this was why he was waiting, but its all ok now – heh). The day my grandmother went in to hospice, he drove straight to my parents house after work and asked their permission.

I still can’t type this without crying. Uhhg. So – the next day he came to the hospice with me, and when he came in, my grandmother held his hand. We got back in the car – I was sobbing, he was crying. I had done more crying than sleeping over the last 2 days and was ugly and snotty and disgusting.

And he pulled out the ring.

I went back inside to show my grandmother. She hadn’t been able to talk for a few weeks and had barely been conscious – but she looked at the ring and grabbed my hand and smiled and nodded her head a bit. Two days later, as I was walking out of the movie theater with friends a little after midnight- a wierd feeling came over me and I called the hospice. They said they had just checked on her 15 minutes ago and she was alive, so I thanked them and hung up – figured I was overthinking things. My phone rang less than 5 minutes later – and it was the hospice saying she had passed. Most of my family found out about our engagement at the funeral, in fact the Reverend mentioned it when speaking about the cycle of life and the balance between joys and sorrows.

It wasn’t exactly the most storybook or romantic proposal, and certainly not one I’d want pictures of. But it all happened the way it was meant to. 🙂

@mandypop: WOW! What a wonderful, touching story! I’m so sorry about the loss of your grandmother, but I’m so glad she was able to share in the joy of you receiving her mother’s ring, just like she wanted. I am tearing up! The ring looks so pretty, too! I love the detail on the side!

My ring was my grandma’s. She’s still with us at the grand old age of 95 (she’ll be 96 next month) but has spent half her life trying to give everything away to her children and grandchildren. My mum should have received the ring but always said that she wasn’t that interested. As I grew up, I developed a fascination with diamonds.

My two female cousins on my dad’s side were given large diamond rings in their teens by my granny (my dad’s mum) and I assumed that I would receive the same. It became clear in my late teens that it would never happen (a fact that I still resent) so after her divorce my mum gave me her engagement ring to cheer me up and said that when the time came my grandma’s ring would come to me.

My grandma has been saying since her forties that she wasn’t going to make it to the next decade i.e. “I’ll never make it to sixty… I’m going to die”. We joke a little that she’s being punished by G-d for being so presumptuous and that she’s now going to live forever.

Anyway… back to the subject. When it became clear that my Fiance and I would be getting engaged in the near future, and my grandma’s ring was becoming so loose on her finger that it kept falling off, my brother went to her and suggested that she gave him her ring to give to my Fiance to give to me when he proposed. As she absolutely adores my Fiance, she readily agreed and my brother passed it on to my fiance to be sized and valued.

My fiance proposed on Christmas Eve 2010 and my grandma was delighted. She’s now living in a home, but we visit her regularly and every time I see her she holds my left hand and admires my ring. She can’t wait for the wedding and has picked out her dress (a favourite royal blue silk georgette vintage dress), and I’m having a hat made for her to match.

On a side note… she missed having a diamond on her hand so much that for her 95th birthday we bought her a replacement solitaire ring (albeit with a CZ rather than a diamond, as she doesn’t care about value, she just wants the shiny shiny) and an amethyst eternity ring (her birthstone).

So here’s the ring. It’s a 1940s art deco setting with a 1.24ct transitional cut diamond and two 0.12ct baguettes.

My ring setting came from my FI’s grandma. The set I have was from a necklace she passed down to my FI’s mom along with matching earings. His mom gave us the necklace setting and his two younger brothers the smaller earrings. I wanted the setting kept mostly the same but he did take the center diamond out to have it replaced with the pink sapphire. I love the fact that it’s a heirloom but he still made it something that is “me”.

My stone isn’t necessarily an heirloom but it was hand picked from a sapphire mine in Thailand by my FI’s family. They knew he was looking for a sapphire so they found an amazing 2 carat stone while on a business trip to Thailand. They gifted it to him and he had a setting made just for the stone. I love it and I love the story behind it. It looks dark in the picture becuase of the lighting but it is such a brilliant blue color in person!